Dorothy Mackaill

Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.

To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.

An on-the-lam New York card shark marries a small-town librarian who thinks he's a businessman.

A former All-American football star, now working as a steel mill supervisor in New Jersey, falls in love with the mill owner's wealthy, very spoiled daughter.

The dim-witted son of a heroic fire chief tries to follow in his late father's footsteps, only to become the unknowing pawn of corrupt politicians.

Drummond goes up against foreign agents who are trying to steal plans for a top-secret aircraft.

Party Husband finds ex-Ziegfield Girl Dorothy playing the better half of a thoroughly “modern marriage” whose openness threatens to bring about its premature end. Fellow Ziegfield alum Mary Doran plays the coquette whose intended conquest of the free-thinking hubby (James Rennie) starts to throw the couple’s “understanding” awry.

Seduced and abandoned, with child, by a charming cad, a former New York fashion model learns to detest the male race in general until befriended by a warm-hearted artist-type who shows her that life -- and men -- ain't so bad in this early talkie drama.

Larry, a publisher, wants Kate to write a book about the 'Office Wife'. An executive stenographer's duties creates a relationship approaching that of his wife. Little does Larry know that sometimes literature mirrors life.

An elderly detective sets out to find who murdered a lecherous stage actor. His estranged wife? His would-be fiancee? Her father? Her boyfriend? A suicided actress's sister? The temperamental prop man? Or maybe the show's talented female chimpanzee?

An older daughter invents a fiancé so that her father will allow her younger sister to marry. However, the lie comes back to haunt her.

Strictly Modern is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Dorothy Mackaill and Sidney Blackmer. A lady novelist falls deeply in love.

Four "Picture Brides", from New Orleans, arrive in the Brazilian jungle on a riverboat, brought there to marry workers at Lottagrasso, a remote mining site of the Standard Diamond Mines. Also on the boat with the four "mail-order" brides (Americans Mame Smith, Flo Lane, and Gwen from England and Lena from Europe) is Mary Lee, a frightened and innocent girl, who has come to see the mine's brutal supervisor, Von Luden, about a job.

A young woman tries to break up a budding romance between her sweet but naive young sister-in-law and a man she regards as a no-account bum. In the process she accidentally kills the would-be boyfriend. Complications ensue.

As Diana Barry is preparing to leave New York to marry inventor Tommy Mason she is offered financial assistance from her ex-lover Dick Kent, who still has a thing for her. Refusing she heads to Sparta, where she informs Tommy of her affair with the older man. Tommy tells her that he doesn't want to know the man's name or any details and Diana is happy to forget the past and move on. This decision comes to bite them a year later though, when Kent returns into the picture.

A criminal gang is after a rich man's money. A female member of the gang gets the bright idea of getting him to marry her, then getting a healthy settlement after a quick divorce.

Heiress learns to fly from aeronautical engineer. Things get complicated as their affair progresses.

A hard-boiled nightclub owner saves a beautiful young girl from drowning. He promptly falls in love with her, but she prefers a younger, more-genteel lover.

A successful Broadway star ready to retire from her wild career announces her engagement. But her tumultuous past isn't done with her yet.

Dorothy Mackaill stars in this old-fashioned melodrama set in the Basque country of Spain. She is Emily Stanley, betrothed to foppish Englishman Sir Harry Congers, but in love with Basque peasant Esteban Cristera. Deciding on a final fling before wedlock, Emily goes to Esteban's village in the mountains, but is wounded in a car accident. Recuperating, she learns about the hardships endured by Basque women from Esteban's grandmother and former girlfriend, Stancia, and decides to return to Sir Harry in Biarritz.

Jimmy O'Connor and Scotty are a couple of New York City gamblers and sharpies who decide to go straight and, since they are such good friends, split 50-50 "even steven" on anything they get or do. Jimmy, a confirmed bachelor, doesn't care for women but Scotty falls in love with Diana O'Sullivan, a Coney Island girl. They decide that Jimmy needs a girlfriend and they opt for Jeannie Cavanaugh. But, following their 50-50 pact, Jimmy, although he has fallen in love with Jeannie, praises Scotty to her.

Ma and Pa Slocum sell up their thriving packed-lunch business (based on Ma's home cooking, Pa's packaging design, and pretty daughter Helen's salesmanship), and move 'uptown' to live the life of the idle rich on the proceeds.

A successful carnival barker deals with the arrival of his eager son, who he'd hoped would stay far from the carnival world, his son's entanglement with a showgirl, and his own jealous mistress.

The spoiled, arrogant and slow-witted son of a wealthy businessman falls in love with the daughter of his father's business manager.

Stephen Ghent, a mineowner, falls in love with Ruth Jordan, an arrogant girl from the East, unaware that she is the daughter of his dead partner. Ruth is vacationing in Arizona and Mexico with a fast set of friends, including her fiancé, Edgar. Manuella, a Spanish halfbreed hopelessly in love with Ghent, causes Ruth to return to her fiancé when she insinuates that Ghent belongs to her. Ghent follows Ruth, kidnaps her, and takes her into the wilderness to endure hardship. There she discovers that she loves Ghent, and she discards Edgar in favor of him.

A spoiled rich girl falls for a poor chauffeur. Their situations are changed when her family loses all their money and he wins $50,000 at a racetrack. They get married, but it's not long before she starts spending their money the way she used to spend hers. Complications ensue.

Henry Potter is the irresponsible playboy son of a New York millionaire. Fearing he will disgrace the family name if he stays in New York, the father sends him to San Francisco to work in the family shipyards and, to make a man out of him, he is told he will have to start at the bottom and work his way up. Henry decides this is not a good idea and resents it to the point he will indeed start at the bottom but will work his way down from there, and disgrace the family name in San Francisco.

In the war-like times of Oliver Cromwell, in and around 'olde Oxford towne', Dutchman Karl Van Kerstenbrook, Dutch soldier-of-fortune and sword-for-hire, stands ready to defend his lady-love, the fair Thomsine Musgrove, and prove his nettle, and that his blade is made of the finest metal.

Waterfront is a 1928 silent film released with sound effects and music, produced and released by First National Pictures. The film was directed by William A. Seiter and starred Dorothy Mackaill and Jack Mulhall, then a popular duo under the First National banner.

Eleanor Warburton, the daughter of a penniless father and a socially ambitious mother, is loved by wealthy Dean Deland but is interested only in Gerry Patten. A plan is conceived whereby Eleanor will marry Dean and, with Gerry's help, will make his life so miserable that he will divorce her and give her a considerable sum of money. But Dean discovers the plan and retaliates by taking Eleanor and Gerry to a South Sea island.

Follows three generations of the Mayne family through the year 1921-22. The 81-year-old patriarch reminisces about his rough beginnings in post-Civil War railroading, son Rufus rides rough waters as a wealthy financier, and his wife and three daughters muddle through their New York high society life.

"Bilge" Smith (Richard Barthelmess), a tough sailor, meets Connie Martin (Dorothy Mackaill), a seamstress in a small harbor who has never had a boyfriend. Connie is instantly smitten. She invites Smith to dinner, where he dances with her and gives her a kiss. Connie has a hard time letting him go, and makes him promise that he will come back.

A blind orphan, Rose Duncan, who has a special talent with the violin. Jerome Trevor, a famed pianist, hears her playing and sends her to an uncle in New York so she can become educated. But the uncle is killed in an accident on his way to meet her and she is taken in by gang leader Bull Morgan. Morgan pretends to be her uncle to elude the police, and he sees the value of keeping her around as cover.

No synopsis available yet.

Young stenographer Chickie Bryce dreams of marrying a millionaire. Until then, though, she is content to carry on with Barry, a lawyer from a nearby office. The relationship soon becomes serious, but one day Chickie meets an actual millionaire, Jake, who sweeps her off her feet. Barry tries to win her back, but his efforts are stymied by Ila, a girl who is in love with Barry and doesn't want him to get back with Chickie.

A beautiful girl exposes her shameful past to save the life of a girl she has never met.

This epic Western-melodrama was based on the popular novel by Harold Bell Wright. Two old prospectors, Thad Grove and Bob Hill find an infant in the cabin belonging to Sonora Jack, a notorious bandit. The girl, Marta, grows to womanhood.

A woman finds herself being a unpaid skivvy to her husband, two daughters and her son.

U. S. Cavalry Lieutenant Ranson belittles the exploits of a bandit known as "The Red Rider," and boasts to his fellow officers that he could hold up a stagecoach with a pair of scissors. And rides out and does so. But the next day, the postmaster, returning from a neighboring town, is also held up and his bodyguard is killed. Ranson is arrested on suspicion and placed on trial. But at the trial suspicion point to Cahill, post trader, and father of Ranson's sweetheart, Mary. In order to save him, Ranson pleads guilty but, in return and knowing that his daughter loves Ranson, Cahill admits he is "The Red Rider." Meanwhile, the real "Red Rider" is still at large.

Under the name of Jack Nelson, Don McLean goes to work in his father's factory. He meets a restaurant cashier, Jeanie; they are married and have a child. Stricken by amnesia as a result of an accident, Jack forgets his family and returns to his former life. Eventually his memory is restored, and he is reunited with his wife and child.

Young Elsie Duchanier, maid of the star dancer in the French Brunel's Follies, is deceived by a lascivious doctor into believing she has only one year to leave in his effort to seduce her. Separated from her true love American soldier Capt. Tom Kendrick when he is reassigned to the United States, she accepts Maurice Brunel's offer to make her the main attraction of his new Follies. She meets with enormous success, but Brunel demands she submit to his advances as the price he demands for making her a star which she refuses. Tom returns to France just in time to save her virtue and whisk her away.

Thurlow Michael Barclay Jr., a bookish mathematics professor, is asked by his father to inspect his mine in Kentucky to determine why it's failing. He discovers love with a local girl named Sally and a plot to destroy the mine by local villains.

Frances, a salesgirl, is planning a summer vacation at the beach with a girlfriend, who also works at her store. Just as she is getting ready to leave home, Dave, a handsome young plumber, arrives to repair a leaky faucet. Her vacation turns into a bust when it rains at the beach, but a hunky lifeguard shows up to brighten her day. Then, of all people, Dave the plumber shows up, too. Complications ensue.

After being released from imprisonment for a crime committed by her sister, Violet is forced to become a woman of easy virtue, and on an excursion to a South Sea isle she meets Luther Smith, a sailor seeking vengeance for the death of his sister. She feels unworthy of his love, but their paths cross again when he rescues her from Captain Sutton, the man responsible for the other girl's tragedy. This film is lost.

A policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his newfound joys.

A beautiful young girl has been raised by her bitter mother to hate all men, but her beauty means that men are constantly after her. She rejects them all, leading some to believe that she may be a lesbian. To stop those rumors, she begins a platonic relationship with a young writer, but things don't work out exactly as planned.

A spoiled heiress is bored by her high-society crowd, and falls for a young truck driver. Her family plans to marry her off to a wealthy young man, but she wants no part of that and she and her lover decide to elope. However, a gang of truck hijackers puts a crimp in their plans.

Part of a 7-part series exploring all aspects of Hollywood.

A German spy matches wits with-and pitches woo to- an American secret agent

Offering a ride to a millionaire, Sam Smith (Leon Errol) agrees to trade places with his passenger for financial reasons. Only when the men in the white coats put the collar on him does Sam realize that the "millionaire" was actually an escaped mental patient.

Badger, a clerk at a Wall Street brokerage, discovers that his boss Gideon Bloodgood has swindled an investor, Fairweather, out of his money. Fairweather dies of a heart attack after an argument with Bloodgood, and Badger uses this knowledge to blackmail him. By a strange coincidence, Bloodgood's daughter Lucy runs over Fairweather's son, Paul, and cripples him.

The McCulloughs agree to separate when Julian is seven years of age. His mother raises him according to her own ideas and fourteen years pass. He meets by accident Lynnie Willis, a poor girl, at a home for girls. He takes her to a dance, where he encounters Peter Straski, her affianced husband. Straski shoots a hole in the gas tank of Julian's car, and they are forced to stay all night at a hotel. A scandal results. A lost film.

A dress shop employee falls in love with a millionaire.

A 1920 silent comedy short.

While honeymooning in Paris Elsie is rescued from attentions of a man.Her hero is Don Arturo who takes her to Countess Longueval after her husband must go for work to Argentine.When her husband returns he is shocked how have Elsie change.Elsie goes to a party in Arturos hunting lodge,where he forces himself on her.Arturo is shot by a Stranger and Elsie confesses all to her forgiving husband.Juan Serafin is found shot.

Lord Brancaster, a decent and upright British nobleman, loses his memory in an accident. While in this amnesiac condition, he becomes involved with the training of a horse, the Whip, for racing at Ascot.

Joanna Manners is a flapper with a million-dollar figure, million-dollar looks, and a million dollars in cash. She falls in love with John Wilmore, a gut who hasn't got a dime nor a pot to put it in if he had a dime. There are those who object. Especially, the crowd of gold-digging gigolos and hustlers she knows.

Camilla Van Dam is in love with her rich father's poor employee, John Hamilton. Van Dam is against their marriage but proposes an arrangement to which Camilla agrees. Van Dam goes abroad with the understanding that she will not marry for a year or reveal her whereabouts to Hamilton. Announcing to the press that she is accompanying her father, Camilla instead gets a job as a chorus girl, takes an apartment, and supports herself. Hamilton finds her and joins in the deception until Van Dam's secretary tries to make off with the fortune on hearing the false rumor of Van Dam's death. Van Dam consents readily to his daughter's marriage when he returns.

Two engaged vaudeville magicians quarrel and go their separate ways.

A New York fur saleswoman falls for a man she meets on the subway and must decide if she wants to accept a much dreamed for work transfer to Paris, or stay and get married.